Fire-shutter.



W. M. BHUNST.

FIRE SHUTTER.

APPUCATION FILED 001.22, 1914.

1 ,2272,347. Patented July 9, 1918.

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FIRE sHuveR. APPLICATSON FILED OCT. 22| 1914.

' Patented July 9, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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- IIRE-SHUTTEB..

To all 'wlwm t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. BRUNsT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fire-Shutters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to the class of fire shutter or curtain that is normally held in open position by thermally controlled means, said means being adapted to become operative in the event of incipient conflagration. My invention is herein shown as applied to a flexible metallic rolling shutter, the barrel for receiving' which is provided with a coil spring for partially counterbalancing the weight of the fiexible inember so that when the flexible member or curtain is released to lclose the opening its impact upon the sill or fioor shall not be of such violence as to cause injury.

The invention is embodied in the example shown in the accompanying drawings andk set forth in the detailed descrip-tion, the novel features being claimed at the end of the description.

In said drawings- Figure 1 is mainly a front elevation of a shutter equipped with the invention parts being in section to illustrate. details.

Fig, 2 is mainly a vertical section on the line Fig. 1 looking to the left, thev end bracket and barrel latching devices being shown in full.

In the views 5 designates the barrel to which the flexible shutter member 6 proper is attached and upon which it is to be normally wound. The flexible member travels at its edges in the usual grooves or channels 6a. The barrel is supported at the left hand end (as shown in the drawings) with a shaft 7 extending through a bracket 8, said shaft having fixed thereon beyond the bracket an adjusting wheel 9 engaged by a pin 10 for securing the shaft in adjusted position. The barrel is, of course, capable of turning on this shaft. Connecting the shaft and the barrel is a coil spring 11 adapted to partially counterbalance the weight of the iiexible member as before indicated. The right hand endof the barrel has ixed in it a shaft 12 that extends through a supporting bracket 18. On the shaft 12 beyond the bracket is a toothed wheel 14C engaged by a latching l lever 15 that is held in barrel latching posi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented' July 9, 191'8.

' vApplicationefledx0ctoberit22;1914.. Serial 110,868,010.v

tion by a second leverl, the latter being held in position by a chain 17 containing a fusible link 18 adapted to be melted to release the levers 15 and 16 and therefore the barrel when heated by an incipient confiagration. The chain 17 can extend around a pulley or two for attachment to a fixed point within convenient reach for release by hand but this means is not shown in detail because it is remote from the present invention, For the purpose of the present disclosure the chain can be assumed to be secured by any obvious means in the position shown.

In rear of the channel or between the channel and the wall of the building at each side of the opening is a vertical space or channel 6b and across the door or window opening with its ends extending into said spaces I place a bar 19 of heavy material, as, for example, iron. This bar is freely movable vertically bu-t in each groove or space 6" I provide brackets 20 which limit the downward movement of said bar. Upon the lower end of the flexible shutter member 6 I provide hooks 21 adapted, when the flexible shutter member is raised, to catch under the said bar 19 and raise the same with the flexible shutter member. The function of the bar 19 is to add weight to the unWound portion of the raised and latched fiexible shutter member so that when that member is automatically released for closing incase of fire such added weight will giveJ a prompt downward initial impulse or movement to the flexible shutter member, the momentum thereby occasioned being sufiicient to cause the shutter member to gently close. In practice I have found that the bar-supporting brackets 20 should be located about one third of the way down, but this location as well as" the weight of the bar is to be governed by all the circumstances and can be easily determined in any particular instance.

What I claim is:

In combination with a flexible lire resisting curtain, a roller therefor, means for partially counterbalancing the curtain, a removable weight auxiliary to the curtain, means on the lower portion of the curtain for receiving and supporting said weight in the normally raised position of the curtain, thermally controlled means for holding the curtain with the weight in normally raised position and fixed means for supporting said Weight in the path of moi-rement ofthe i Wlien the ourtain is lovrveredrsaiil is said Weight-receiving means at a point inoaught and detaineolrby tlieaforesail -termediate the completely raised and eomf Weight-supporting means?" Y pletely closed positions of the curtain WILLIAMV M.' BRUNS-T.

5 whereby When the curtain is raiseoll to its Witnesses:

normal position the removable Weight is E. H. MoGLoUD, picked; up by said Yreceiving means andv F11'1"1ER.v

Copies of this patent may berobtained for ve cents/each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatentl,

Washington, D. C. 

